One of the major development that's going to happen in the Indian aviation industry is the Air India sale. The government was initially expected to bring the Air India sale document by the end of October, however, it did not happen. A recent report surfaced online revealed that the Expression of Interest (EoI) will be released by mid-November. But a new report coming from Indian Express now says the EoI document may not come out until early 2020 as the government will be looking for inputs from corporate houses which it can add in the document to attract more bidders.
Air India EoI Sale Document Could Be Released Early Next Year
A few years ago, the government planned to sell the majority of the stake in Air India, but it did not find any takers back then. But this time around, the same government is looking to sell its entire stake from the national airline to attract more buyers in the industry. A new report now says the government may push the EoI sale document announcement to early next as "it is still seeking inputs for corporate houses that have shown interest in buying the airline."
Initially, the sale document was expected to arrive by the end of October 2019, but later on, it was said to arrive in early November. These were the expected dates because the government would've looked to meet the divestment target for the financial year 2020.
With the expected dates are already passed, we can now expect the government to release the sale document only in early 2020.
Qatar Airways Shows No Interest in Bidding for Air India
Qatar Airways, one of the major airlines in the international markets, has recently expressed its disinterest in bidding for Air India. Tata Group expressed its interest in the bidding, but Qatar Airways is on the opposite end as the airline wants to invest only in IndiGo which is currently the leading airline in India.
Initially, it was said the government was planning to prepare the EoI document of Air India to woo Qatar Airways and other airlines, but Qatar made it clear that they're not interested in Air India for now. Qatar Airways may come forward in investing in Air India only if it gets a right partner and proper labour services.
